"RON" 2007 Obituary

RONAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-12-27 published
Backbone of Saint Michael's Choir School groomed 'young gentlemen'
For more than 60 years, 'the guardian of the school's character'
served in many capacities but mostly she taught the students
liturgical music and religion, as well as their ABCs
By Ron CSILLAG,
Special to The Globe and Mail, Page S7
Toronto -- Kathleen (Kay)
MANN could have easily become a Roman
Catholic nun, but chose instead to teach. The decision proved
almost moot; she viewed her job as a religious calling. Besides,
teaching was no mere whim - she did it for an astonishing 65 years
at the same school.
"My work is equivalent to that of an apostolate," she reflected
in 1987. "It gives me great joy. I love my work and my faith."
Ms. MANN combined those as can few who do not take religious
vows. She was a fixture at Toronto's famed Saint Michael's Choir
School as a firm but much-loved teacher, administrator and conductor,
and maintained a spotless attendance record since the school's
founding in 1937 - missing only one day, when she fractured her
elbow playing softball, her other passion.
Over six decades, thousands of boys learned liturgical music
and religion, as well as their ABCs, from Ms.
MANN, who served
the school in virtually every capacity and taught every one of
its administrative and choir directors.
"I was her boss for 24 years, but she was always my teacher,"
remembered Harry
HODSON, a pupil of Ms.
MANN's in the early 1950s
who went on to become the school's principal and director. "She
was a guardian of the school's character."
Proper and punctilious, with a straight back and earnest smile,
Ms. MANN
(MissMANN to her students) was a gentle and inspiring
instructor, and kept her boys on the straight and narrow. "She
was not a softie by any means," Mr.
HODSON said. "She wanted
the very best from her boys but was probably one of the fairest
people you'll ever come across. She wanted to raise young gentlemen
and, along the way, turn them into singers."
Several of her choirboys went on to find fame in singing, among
them Michael Burgess, operatic tenor Michael Schade, jazz crooner
Matt Dusk, members of the Crew-Cuts and Four Lads, and Kevin
Hearn of Barenaked Ladies.
"She didn't joke around a lot. She was pretty serious and dedicated
and made us work hard," recalled Mr. Hearn, a student from Grades
3 to 11. "When I look at my self-discipline skills, she's certainly
the person who had a major influence on helping them develop.
She was a beautiful person."
Mr. Hearn, who still does the vocal exercises he learned from
Ms. MANN, went to visit his old teacher a few years ago. "She
asked how I was doing and what I was doing. I said I was in a
band. She asked what it was called. When I told her, she just
sort of shook her head, looked at me and said," - and here he
lowers his voice for effect - " 'Oh, Kevin …' "
Mr.Dusk, with three jazz CDs under his belt, remembers Ms.
MANN
as "a kind of second mother to us. She taught us that singing
is praying twice, that music can be fun but spiritual."
For years, she was equally dedicated to softball, and even turned
down a professional contract. "I thought my teaching was more
important," she told the Toronto Star in 1987. "Playing ball
would have only lasted a few years."
Born into a working-class family in Toronto, Ms.
MANN displayed
her mettle and sense of fair play early, once challenging a neighbourhood
tough to "Take off your glasses and fight."
She learned to play baseball in the schoolyard at age 12, recalled
her sister, Doris
McGRATH. "In those days, there wasn't much
to do but go to the school playground."
She entered a local girls' league, developed a wicked pitching
arm and hot bat, and never looked back. Newspaper reports of
the day described her as "a sterling pitcher… speed-ball hurler&hellip
one of the best."
She played for 23 years, starting at age 13 with the Nationals,
going on to the Toronto Ladies, followed by corporate teams such
as Peoples Credit Jewellers, Simpsons and Clayton's. She guest
pitched for several world tournaments in Detroit and was offered
a contract to play in the women's big leagues in Chicago. She
declined.
The softball-and-music combination led to decades of "perfect-pitch"
puns.
Meantime, Toronto's Cathedral Schola Cantorum, founded in 1926 to
train boys for Saint Michael's Cathedral's choir, added elementary
grades in 1937 and was rechristened Saint Michael's Choir School.
A 19-year-old Ms.
MANN began as an assistant to founder Monsignor
John Edward
RONAN.
She is remembered as the last of the school's
co-founders.
Armed with a teaching certificate from the Toronto Normal School,
she started instructing traditional academic subjects, as well
as Gregorian chant, sight singing, choral music and voice. The
life of a chorister was hard, Mr.
HODSON recalled. It started
in Grade 3, went to Grade 13, "and for nine of those, from Grade 5
on, you were singing every Sunday of the school year at the cathedral."
Although stern, Ms.
MANN had a way of easing tension. She would
hold up small cards facing the choir that said, "No smoking,"
or "chicken lips." Darren Dais, a former student and now a Dominican
priest, recalled that she installed two rear-view mirrors on
her piano, which faced away from the class, to keep an eye on
trouble-makers. The jingle of the huge ring of keys she carried
alerted the more rambunctious singers to settle down before her
arrival.
Her interest in Gregorian chant led to additional studies in
New York, the Catholic University of America in Washington, and
Boys Town in Nebraska. She also held a Bachelor of Sacred Music
degree from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome,
through an affiliation with the choir school.
She was awarded two papal medals, the Bene Merenti in 1964, and
the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice ("For Church and Pope") in 1987,
on the school's 50th anniversary. She was inducted into the Order
of Ontario in 1997.
Ms. MANN was at the school seven days a week, usually arriving
straight from 7: 30 a.m. mass at the cathedral next door. Weekends
were spent on paperwork. For a time, she pinch-hit as the secretary
at night. She taught at the summer school until the mid-1960s.
And she taught singing to nurses at Saint Michael's Hospital and
the Catholic Youth Organization's glee club.
Despite plenty of opportunities, she never married. Her students
were "her boys" and she unabashedly mothered them. "Children
nowadays need somebody to be firm, consistent and loving," she
told the Star.
From 1967 until her first "retirement" in 1984, Ms.
MANN was
the school's vice-principal. In 1984, the school persuaded the
archdiocese of Toronto to retain her as an "adviser in sacred
music," a position she held for almost 15 years. And from 1985
on, she conducted the elementary and junior boys' choirs. She
was 85 when she finally stopped working.
After slipping into a deep sleep on her final day of life, she
waved her hands in the air for a few minutes. At first puzzled,
her family realized that she was conducting. Then she crossed
herself, folded her hands on her chest, and died.
At her packed funeral service, several men approached the family
to say, "Kay is the reason I'm a gentleman."
Kathleen Mary
MANN was born in Toronto on August 31, 1919. She
died of cancer in Toronto on December 8, 2007. She was 88. She
was predeceased by her brothers Leo and Raymond
KILLORAN.
She
leaves her sister, Doris
McGRATH.

RONDEAU o@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2007-01-05 published
HYSLOP,
John▼Edward▼Allan▼
At the Southampton Care Centre, Southampton on Wednesday January 3,
2007. Beloved husband for 56 years of Louisa
HYSLOP (née
PATTERSON)
of Southampton. Dear father of Suzanne and her husband James
PRITCHARD of Kingston, Carol
RONDEAU of London, Brian and his
wife Jeanne of Collingwood and Bruce and his wife Sandra of Toronto.
Proud grandfather of Lance, Joy, Laura, Andrew, Jennifer, Michael,
Lynn, Allan and Bennett. Fondly remembered by his many Friends
from Probus, the Church and the Community. Ed
HYSLOP of Southampton
in his 92nd year. Ed was a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force
during World War 2 and a Life Member of the Royal Canadian Legion,
Southampton Branch #155. Predeceased by his parents David and
Grace HYSLOP of Hamilton, by his sisters, Margaret and Dorothy
SCHWENGER, by his brother, Thomas and by his first wife, Elinor
SIMPSON. At
Ed's▼ request there will be no visitation. Cremation.
A Memorial Service to Celebrate the Life of Ed
HYSLOP will be
conducted at the Southampton United Church, Southampton, on Friday
January▼ 12, 2007 at 2 p.m. Reverend Keith
REYNOLDS will officiate.
A Time of Fellowship and Sharing will follow at the Church. Private
Interment of Ashes, Southampton Cemetery. Expressions of Remembrance
to the Chantry Seniors Centre or to the Southampton United Church.
Arrangements entrusted to the Eagleson Funeral Home, Southampton.
Condolences may be forwarded to the Family through www.eaglesonfuneralhome.com.
Page B4

RONDEAU o@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2007-01-06 published
HYSLOP,
John▲Edward▲Allan▲
At the Southampton Care Centre, Southampton on Wednesday January 3,
2007. Ed HYSLOP of Southampton in his 92nd year. Beloved husband
for 56 years of Louisa
HYSLOP (née
PATTERSON) of Southampton.
Dear father of Suzanne and her husband James
PRITCHARD of Kingston,
Carol RONDEAU of London, Brian and his wife
Jeanne of Collingwood
and Bruce and his wife Sandra of Toronto. Proud grandfather of
Lance, Joy, Laura, Andrew, Jennifer, Michael, Lynn, Allan and
Bennett. Fondly remembered by his many Friends from Probus, the
Church and the Community. Ed was a member of the Royal Canadian
Air Force during World War 2 and a Life Member of the Royal Canadian
Legion, Southampton Branch #155. Predeceased by his parents David
and Grace HYSLOP of Hamilton, by his sisters, Margaret and Dorothy
SCHWENGER, by his brother, Thomas and by his first wife, Elinor
SIMPSON. At
Ed's▲ request there will be no visitation. Cremation.
A Memorial Service to Celebrate the Life of Ed
HYSLOP will be
conducted at the Southampton United Church, Southampton, on Friday
January▲ 12, 2007 at 2 p.m. Reverend Keith
REYNOLDS will officiate.
A Time of Fellowship and Sharing will follow at the Church. Private
Interment of Ashes, Southampton Cemetery. Expressions of Remembrance
to the Chantry Seniors Centre or to the Southampton United Church.
Arrangements entrusted to the Eagleson Funeral Home, Southampton.
Condolences may be forwarded to the family through www.eaglesonfuneralhome.com.